European Commission recognised for its
efforts to green its activities

Successful efforts by the European Commission to green its activities
have been recognised with four of its departments receiving 'EMAS registration'.
Since 2002, these pioneering departments have piloted the EU Eco-Management and
Auditing Scheme (EMAS). This has helped improve their environmental performance
and spread good environmental practice throughout the Commission. As a result,
energy and paper consumption is decreasing, the Commission is recycling more and
more, and staff are increasingly turning to public transport to come to work.
In 2004 the Commission saved around €500,000 just on toner and paper.
Later this year, the Commission will decide how to extend EMAS to all its
departments.

"I am encouraged by the successful outcome of our EMAS pilot project and
would like to thank our staff for this," said Siim Kallas, Commission
Vice-President for administrative affairs, audit and anti-fraud. "This shows
that the Commission can actively contribute to sustainable development, not only
through its policy proposals, but also in its day-to-day operations."

"It is important that we practice what we preach," said Environment
Commissioner Stavros Dimas. "With a workforce of more than 25,000, the
Commission can make a real difference and set an example. I am very pleased with
what we have achieved, but there is room and opportunity to go even
further."

"Sustainable development is about changing attitudes and behaviour," said
Catherine Day, the Commission's Secretary-General. "EMAS helps us identify the
negative environmental impacts of our actions and ways to reduce them. I welcome
the enthusiasm that staff have shown in implementing the recommendations."

EMAS in the Commission

The EMAS forerunners include the Secretariat General, the
Directorates-General (DG) Personnel & Administration and Environment and the
Office for Infrastructure & Logistics in Brussels (OIB), which together
employ around 3,500 people. As OIB is responsible for areas such as buildings
policy and maintenance, the procurement of supplies and services, waste
management and also staff mobility, many of the EMAS actions have been
implemented across the Commission as a whole. The Informatics DG is also
implementing EMAS since it joined the scheme in 2004.

EMAS requires all participating organisations to evaluate the environmental
impacts of their activities and implement strategies to reduce them. They must
involve their personnel, put in place an environmental management system,
continuously improve their environmental performance and report on it, all under
the scrutiny of independent auditors.

The 3,500 staff of the pilot services have been encouraged e.g. to reduce
printing; to switch off lights when not needed; to turn off their computers
overnight; to use video-conferencing instead of travelling to meetings; and to
use public transport or bicycles when commuting to work or travelling from one
building to another. Horizontal actions include, among many other things, the
procurement of environmentally-sound products and services and the responsible
use of products containing chemicals. All this and much more is to be found in
the 2002-2004 environmental statement released by the pilot services, based on
which they received EMAS registration from the Brussels' competent
authorities.

Results

In seven of the main buildings occupied by the four pilot services, there is
a decline in energy consumption. There was also a corresponding 4% drop in
CO2 emissions between 2003 and 2004 (decreasing from 5,852 to 5,626
tons). Water consumption also shows a slight downward trend.

Significant results have been achieved by the whole Commission due to the
dissemination of good practices and to horizontal actions implemented by OIB.
As a result of the introduction of recto-verso printing as a default setting,
and of individual efforts by staff, there has been a 12% drop in the amount of
paper used per staff member and working day between 2003 and 2004. Moreover,
since 2001, the Commission uses only recycled and 100% chlorine-free paper.
Green procurement practices have also ensured that 80% of the stationary
available (700 articles) is recyclable, and environmental specifications were
included in the contract covering 14 canteens and 34 cafeterias.

The use of private cars to commute to and from work went down from 50% in
1998 to 44% in 2004, while the use of public transport rose from 32% to 38%
during the same period. Staff are encouraged to use public transport, the
"Eurobus" lines (which link most European Institution buildings and which are
free for Commission staff) and staff bicycles for work related journeys, and
this has contributed to leaving the private car behind. Also, thanks to the
promotion of video-conferences the number of business trips to e.g. Luxembourg
has been significantly reduced.

While the volume of waste generated has slightly increased (by 1.3%) to 6,358
tons between 2003 and 2004 in line with an increase in staff , recycling has
been maximised and disposal optimised. For example, the share of non-separated
waste in total waste volume was reduced from 51% (3,220 tons) to 46% (2,928
tons) during the same period.

Next steps

Later this year, the Informatics Directorate-General will become the fifth
pilot service to be registered under EMAS. The Commission will also decide how
to extend EMAS to its 36 other departments. In total it has 41 departments.

Background

EMAS is a voluntary scheme. It was launched in 1991 and revised in 2001 to be
applicable to both private and public organisations. Currently, there are around
3,300 EMAS-registered organisations in the EU. The Commission is today the third
organisation to be registered in the Brussels Capital Region.

EMAS in the Commission follows on from Green Housekeeping, an environmental
action programme which has helped it reduce its environmental impacts since
1997. EMAS provides for a more systematic and thorough approach, stricter still
than ISO 14001.The Commission's environmental statement:ec.europa.eu/environment/emas/pdf/es_library/99en_eu05_en.pdf